Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-08-24


lad sparse, short trimmed thin grass through
which the thirsty earth shows forth and
among which the only green things are little
ILLS and patches Of inch long cacti. These
cacti are OF q light green, are oval in shape, |
and they rest almost fat ON the ground. |
They have cruel spurs or thorns, and these |
ere SO sharp that they will 60 through your |
thoes IL you step upon them. The only in |
Labitants Of such country are ia X rabbits, |
little yellow prairie dogs not much larger |
than good sized rat, and the ants, which |
make the little mounds you see scattered over |
the land and whose bite is almost as bad as
the mosquitoes, which by myriads swarm
over the irrigated ground. In such region
nothing but desert may be in sight, and only
the clear blue skies Of Colorado may bound
sou. You can see very far, and it Is not
lard to imagine yourself on one Of the great
deserts Of Africa. A half hours ride, how
ever, may bring you to stream, and the
desert changes to the greenest OF cultivated
lands The arid desert Is now seen only on
the orders OF the horizon, and the hills are
now lined with cattle and horses, which stand
out against this clear blue Colorado sky as
though they were painted upon it. The
ground is covered with the green Of Holland
in summer, or of Egypt in winter, and you
look about you for the Dutch windmills or
the hard laboring Fellahin of the Nile valley.
The watered lands of Colorado are, however,
far different from those Of either Egypt or
Holland, and irrigation here Is carried on OH
a far different plan from either. Holland
has to fight against too much water; Egypt
has to raise its supplies from the low flowing
Nile to the high lands along its banks; Col
orado gets its waters from the high lands and
| endeavors to distribute them over those be-
| low. Every bit OF water is here utilized,
| and had the state big river like the Mis-
| souri, or the Ohio she would turn its flow into
| wealth Of agricultural gold. As it is,
! great bitches lead of in ali directions from
| such streams rs flow from the mountains, and
| it is estimated that the cost of the bitches or
canals in the state has already amounted to
| Sl1 ,0OO, 900. *"*
These bitches, it is estimated, furnish
enough water to irrigate 20O0,OO0 acres Of
land and more than 100000 acres are irri-
gated by them. In other words, 10000 100
acre farms are being cultivated which few
| years ago were desert. There are over 4, 900
miles OF canals and large bitches in Colorado,
and the water thus used, if stretched out as
| it here flows, would reach from New York
across the continent Or to Liverpool and have
| 1000 miles yet to spare. The larger canals
|
feet Deep They run from the mountains or
the rivers miles into the desert, and from
them branch canals run Off in different direc-
tions These branch canals are tapped
and the bitches connected with them
| allow the water to run in wide pillow
burrows over the ground. The Loveland
and Greeley Irrigation and Land company
has great canal thirty-one miles long,
twenty six feet wide and five feet deep. Its
grade is two and half feet per mile, and
it is said it will irrgate 223, 200 acres, though
only 10, OOO are under cultivation. 1t is this
canal that supplies the Greeley colony, which
Horace Greeley and Ralph Meeker laid out in
1870 1t is a stock company in which the
farmers own shares, and it costs its owners
annually only what it costs for repairs This
canal has made Greeley, and Greeley is now
as pretty town Of 5000 people as you will
find in the Union. When Horace Greeley
located it it was a gray desert, twenty five
miles away from the Rocky mountains, its
vegetation consisting Of cacti and stray grass
not longer than pins. 1t was hot, dusty and
nrid. Not'a blade Of green grass showed and
. not tree grew. Now It Is as well shaded a
any New England village, and it has hundred,
and hundreds Of cottonwoOds and other tree,
) which are forty and fifty feet high. 1t ha
l
} which are grassy lawns, and it has big parl
OF several acres filled with shade trees. 1t
surroundings are those Of a rich agriculture
region and its lands produce good crops. 1t
people are Of the cream Of eastern immigra
ton. and it has a large class of wealthy resi-
dents. No liquors are sold in the colony. an.
, it has never had a saloon. 1t is the on. y town
5 in the country with fence all around it, am
ir has gates ut certain points in this wire fence
8 with gate keepers to let the people in and out
5 The fence is for the cattle, and it surround
| the whole colony, making many miles OF wir
0 inclosure. *~*
= This Greeley ditch, like number Of other
1 in Colorado, is, as said, a stock company o
Y farmers Other canals have been constructs
e w capitalists, but in such cases high rate
t Tor water are charged, and much Of the Lit
r cation OF Colorado relates 10 water priv
h ,.ges The canal companies charge in th
z first place q royalty OF so much per acrs
d ranging from $40 to $35 per acre, for til
S right to use the water, and then charge fro'
S 81 to 81 so per inch for the water used. B
a an inch of water Is meant the amount ths
IL will How through pipe an inch in diametel
and it is estimated that an inch Of water
II enough to irrigate an acre Of land when
Is number Of acres are irrigated. In othe
!
e gate fifty acres, and 100 inches would irriga'
II $50 acres.
d The farmers object to paying Tor the rigi
u to use the water, and the canal compani,
p force them to do 50, claiming that their Ian
" would be worth nothing without the waite
IT which u true, and that, inasmach as the
L capital has made the lands valuable, the
should be paid for it. Irrigatable Ian
=. about Denver is high, and it is along Il
. High Line ditlh that q great deal Of u
. trouble that at present exists Is found. Th
High Line ditch was built by foreign capita
5 at cost of nearly three-quarters Of millio
of dollars. Its initial point is in the canyc
q, of the South Platte river, about twenty mil
from Denver. It Ia eighty three mil
y long, and at one point runs within 70,
!" miles Of Denver. 1t is forty feet wide. sev'
feet deep, and 1t has an average fall Of twen
:, inches to the mile. It's capacity is such tn
~ it will irtigate Sc 900 acres OF land or $40 10
o. acre farms In 1884, about 900 acres We
! in cultivation along it, and this area has sin
~ been increased. 1t is, perhaps, the most cost
Irritating canal in the United States and